To Each, his Own
by J.G. The Gamer
Summary: In life, we all have our goals. Goals we wish to accomplish at all costs. At Duel Academy, this holds very true. And to them, their goals are more important than dueling. But why not trash the competition while they're at it? AU. STORY MAY BE AXED PENDING
1. Passing the Test

A/N: Alrighty! Here's my first swing at this anime! This fic's main characters are OCs, with perhaps slight references to the canon characters. Try your best to bear with me!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Otherwise, I'd be filthy rich.

Now let's rock!

The academy was huge. Not extremely luxurious, but it would do nicely, the guy thought as he was in line to register for Kaiba Corp's Dueling Academy.

'Man, sure are a lot of people here,' the guy thought to himself as the lineup was rather large. There were many kids that were around his age. And judging by their looks, they probably had come from all around the world. Global duels had become more popular since Kaiba Corporation's Grand Championship Duel Monsters Tournament that was held ten years ago.

And now, enter the newest dueling craze. The dueling academies. Schools dedicated to giving duelists a high school formatted education, and teaching teenage duelists on how to hone their skills so they'll be ready to become full accomplished pro duelists. The academy that provided both aspects was what inspired Jay Gilder to come to try out for the Academy. However, this tryout would only come once a year and you would have one duel to show the instructors what you're made of.

Jay was indeed excited at having a shot for the Duel Academy. His shining green eyes and brown hair only proved his point more. At age fifteen, he was slightly above average height compared with the other boys he had seen being five feet ten inches and one hundred sixty pounds.

After what felt like an eternity, he had reached the front desk, where an exhausted receptionist greeted him. "Hello. Welcome to Toronto's Audition for Kaiba Corporation's Duelist Academy," she began. "I'll need you to fill out this form before we proceed any further."

Receiving the form, Jay looked it over. Basically, simple identification requirements: first (Jay) and last name (Gilder), date of birth (3/15/15), current level of education which was up to Grade nine at the time, health card number which was part of Canada's health system. Once he filled out the form, he handed it back to the receptionist, "There, all done."

"Good," she handed him a piece of paper. It was numbered #C-2-128. "When this number gets called over the PA system in the C section, it will be your turn to duel. The "2" means you'll be dueling in the second arena in the C-section," she noticed his dueldisk on his left arm. "And I see you have a dueldisk, so you don't need to rent one. Good luck."

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Koji Kuramoto knew that even from these people who had not even qualified for the academy, that one could potentially learn many chapters of information from even a single person. Such was the reason why he was here, to gather information on others' dueling strategies.

It wasn't necessary for Koji to be here, as he had already qualified. But he did not want to pass up the chance to get an advantage on what any potential opponents had to offer. However, from what he was observing from the C-section, there were only a few students worthy of observation. Hopefully, he would get the chance to duel the potentials with his unique deck.

Koji was a student entering his second year. And he always took his dueling and his studies very seriously. As such, he was rewarded for his phenomenal scores with a spot in the top dorm known as Obelisk Blue, which was shown by the blue jacket the Obelisk students wore. Koji was fairly well built for his age, being sixteen. He stood five feet ten inches, and clocked in at one hundred seventy pounds, which was slightly bigger than most Asians he knew being of Japanese descent from the countryside. He sported spiky hair, and a pair of glasses to top it off, making him appear even more intelligent than he already was.

Koji sighed at the last duel he watched. Yet another, disappointing duel down the hatch. He couldn't even gather anything interesting on account of the kid's deck being pretty much all over the place. He then heard another number be called over the PA system. Not long after, a girl strode into the dueling arena. Judging from her look of confidence, and perhaps her opening moves that he will soon see, much could be learned here.

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Once Jay got inside the C-Section, he was amazed at the atmosphere inside. There were more kids than there were outside. Some were showing their friends the cards they had gotten; some were dueling using the playing mats they bought with card packs, and some were just socializing with their fellow duelists. Jay went over to a food stand instead and bought himself a hamburger to munch on while he waited for his chance to prove to the instructors of the academy that he was ready.

As he munched away on his triple burger, he decided to take a quick look at his cards. Thumbing through them quickly, he made sure that they were all there. A deck that consisted almost entirely of Spellcasters was what Jay was going to throw into the ring. His thumb-through confirmed that all cards were there and accounted for. This was sure going to be exciting.

Jay spent a lot of his time playing in the local tournaments in his Toronto neighbourhood. He won a lot of them. That's when he learned about the Duel Academy, where some of the best of the best were taught how to play even better. So he had prepared all summer, in hopes of being able to qualify. After finishing his burger, he turned his attention to the duel going on the big television many people were watching. A girl was doing her examination duel, and she seemed to be doing very well.

Girl: 1900 LP

Examiner: 1200 LP

"Your Ryu Kokki is nothing to be afraid of," declared the girl. "I couldn't care less if its ability destroys all Warriors and Spellcasters it faces!" She thumbed through the cards in her hand. On her side of the field, she had a Dark Blade, a dual sword wielding knight clad completely in black armour in Defense Mode (4/1800/1500), and a Gearfried the Iron Knight, another warrior wearing a bodysuit made out of iron and sporting a long blade along its right arm also in Defense Mode (4/1800/1600). On the instructor's side of the field, was a Zombie monster known as Ryu Kokki (4/2400/2000). Its body appeared to be made completely out of other skulls.

"Then prove your point Miss, otherwise forfeit the duel."

"Very well, I shall," she answered with a flick of her long brown hair, "I sacrifice my two Warriors to summon my ultimate monster! Meet Gilford the Legend!"

The two warriors dematerialized into balls of light, which merged together. From the light, emerged a single warrior. It sported navy blue armour across its chest, which matched the facemask it wore. To top it off, it had large gray armour pieces on each shoulder. But most of all, it had sheathed several swords along its body. (8/2600/2000)

"And now for the best part," her brown eyes narrowed, "his special ability activates. This lets me take every Equip Spell card from my Graveyard and equip them directly to any warrior on my side of the field. This includes my Lightning Blade, my Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade, and my Wicked Breaking Flamberge Baou!

Everyone watched as the three swords returned from the Graveyard surrounded Gilford and were magically sheathed were other swords used to be. (8/4200/2000)

"Now Gilford, attack Ryu Kokki now!" the girl commanded. At her command, Gilford charged at the undead monster. As it charged, the three swords equipped to it magically unsheathed themselves to surround Ryu Kokki. Next Gilford became a blur, and flew right through the Zombie. It grabbed one of the swords, and flew through it again. Gilford did this two more times before stopping. After a few seconds, the skulls that held Ryu Kokki together suddenly began to fall apart and the monster crumbled before becoming scattered into bits of data.

Girl: 1900 LP

Examiner: 0 LP

The crowd gave its applause to the female duelist, for this victory would guarantee her a spot in one of the three Duel Academy dorms. She was told to proceed to another area, and that the next duelist would be called out in five minutes.

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C-Section Cafeteria

"And what a spectacular finish," Jay said aloud to no one in particular, "Nothing rocks more than winning with style." Once the duel ended, he went over to a card stand, in hopes of finding some good packs of cards he could buy.

'Yikes! These cards are expensive,' he told himself, 'but these are definitely some good cards without a doubt.' Perhaps he could buy a card or two. But that may put a hammer blow to his wallet, and at the same time the cards he may buy could be a factor in the upcoming duel. As he about to ask the card vendor to make a purchase…

"Duelist C-2-128, report to the second arena for your examination duel!" the loudspeaker boomed.

'Aw man, so much for totally kicking ass. I'll have to settle for plain kicking ass.' And with that, he strode towards the dueling arena. He entered through the doors where the duelists entered. He showed the guard there his identification that he was required to go through.

The atmosphere was even more fascinating. Probably because everyone who was in the stands likely had their eyes locked on who the next duelist was going to be and what he/she had in store to prove their worth. And now they were about to lock their eyes on Jay as he walked towards the center of the stadium.

Jay gazed at the man standing opposite to him. He was bald, had a yellow jacket on, and something that looked like a guitar with duel zones strapped onto the jacket. He was immediately confused.

"Say, what the heck is that you're wearing?" he asked slightly tilting his head, "Is that a duel disk or a guitar?" This question got the whole audience laughing.

"Very funny," replied the examiner. "Should you win this duel, you automatically qualify for the Duel Academy. And if you lose, then you obviously do not qualify for the academy. Are you ready?"

"You bet. Otherwise why would I be here other than to check out the pretty ladies?" And with that, he activated his Kaiba Corporation made dueldisk. Many different versions of the dueldisk had come out in the last ten years, but he liked the original the best.

"Let's duel!" Jay and the examiner said in unison.

Jay: 4000 LP

Examiner: 4000 LP

"Since I am the examiner, choice of turn is yours. Choose whether you or I will start."

"I think I'll start," answered Jay, picking up five cards from his deck. 'Hmm…it's not too bad of a hand.' He selected one card from his hand, and placed it face down sideways on the dueldisk, "One monster in defense mode." A large hologram of the back of a card appeared horizontally in front of Jay. "I'll set two more cards face down, and that's all for now." He slid two cards into the Spell/Trap slots on his dueldisk. Two more cards appeared between Jay and his horizontal card.

Now the examiner drew a card from his guit… err dueling… device. "I play Cost Down. By discarding one card from my hand, I am able to lower the star count of every monster in my hand. And now I am able to summon a six-star monster, known as Mobius the Frost Monarch!"

In front of the examiner emerged a large sky blue being that looked like some sort of robot with a blue cape. (6/2400/1000)

"And now Mobius' ability lets me destroy your two, face down cards." Two laser beams shot out from the monster's eyes and dispersed Jay's Trap cards, leaving his lone monster on the field. "And now, I shall attack your monster!"

"You've revealed my Gravekeeper's Spy! (4/1200/2000)" A dark skinned man clad in a black turban and black robe appeared and was immediately crushed by Mobius. "You get one point for being able to destroy it, but its effect activates, allowing me to summon another monster with "Gravekeeper's" in its name with 1500 Attack Points or less! And I'll summon another Gravekeeper's Spy in Defense Mode!"

"I set one card face down and end my turn," said the examiner.

"Okay, back to moi." Jay drew a card off his deck. 'Now that's cool man. That's cool. That monarch just fried my entire defense strategy. But he's in for a shock.' "I set one monster in defense mode. Then I play one card face down and end my turn."

Jay watched as another card hologram appeared next to his Gravekeeper's Spy, and one appeared behind the monsters. 'Well my plan will rid the field of Mobius, and give me the lead in this duel.'

"Already running?" mocked the examiner, "you're here to duel, not defend." He drew. Now I play Mystical Space Typhoon, which let's me destroy one card on the field. A huge gust of wind blew Jay's card off the field. "And since the monster I sent to my Graveyard was an Earth attributed monster, I may remove it from play, namely my Big Shield Guardna, so I may Summon Gigantes!

A large brown ogre with a single horn coming out of its forehead appeared on the examiner's side of the field. (4/1900/1300) "And now Mobius, attack his Gravekeeper's Spy with Frost Crush!"

Jay basically saw a repeat of what happened last turn as his face up monster was destroyed. But the examiner as expected was not done. "And now, Gigantes, attack his face down monster!"

"Think again," shot back Jay. "You've revealed my Old Vindictive Magician, (2/450/600) which spells trouble for you! I can automatically destroy one monster on your side of the field."

Once Gigantes had made quick work of the aging magician wearing a red magician's robe, an aura surrounded Mobius the Frost Monarch. It began to rust quickly, and then dispersed.

"Not bad Mr. Gilder," said the examiner. "But I now have one monster to nothing on your side. "And it's your move."

Jay then drew another card bringing it up to two cards in his hand. Choice cards they were, as he would use them both. "I summon Skilled Dark Magician in Attack Mode! (4/1900/1700)" A man wearing a black robe with three beacons on it appeared. "And now I activate Graceful Charity! This lets me add three cards to my hand, but I must send two to the Graveyard!

One beacon on the magician's robe lit up. Jay was quick to explain. "And whenever a Spell card is activated with Skilled Dark Magician on the field, he gets a Spell Counter. And now I activate Pot of Avarice!"

"Hold on!" interjected the examiner. "You need at least five monsters in your Graveyard to use that. And I count three!"

"Heh! When I played Graceful Charity, I discarded two monsters. Giving me the amount I need!" Jay took his five monsters, and added them to his deck. He then proceeded to shuffle it. "And then I draw two cards." From the look on his face, he liked what he saw. "And now, I'll boost my magician's strength with Mage Power! This raises his attack and defense for every Spell and Trap on the field, which includes this face down card." (4/2900/2700) The third beacon on the Skilled Dark Magician lit up. "And now, I'm ready to attack! Go my mage! Attack Gigantes!

With one blast of its wand, the Skilled Dark Magician had crushed Gigantes.

Jay: 4000 LP

Examiner: 3000 LP

But the examiner was not alarmed. "Since you destroyed Gigantes in battle, his special ability activates. Now all Spell and Traps on the field are destroyed." An unknown force appeared which destroyed Mage Power and Jay's face down card.

But Jay was far from worried. "However, my Skilled Dark Magician (4/1900/1700) has three Spell Counters now. So his special ability activates. I sacrifice him to Special Summon Dark Magician from my Deck!

With the vanishing of the Skilled Dark Magician, a new monster appeared in its place. This one had a purple bodysuit with a large purple hat, and it carried a large green staff. (7/2500/2100) "And I think this is how my turn will end," said Jay.

The examiner drew one card off his deck, and acted quickly, "I play Swords of Revealing Light," he announced. Large bright swords came down from the sky and landed around Jay and the Dark Magician. "Now you cannot attack for three turns. And now I summon Chiron the Mage in Defense Mode!" (1800/1000) A strange half horse half man appeared on the examiner's field holding a long rod with a ball at the end of it. "And I will set two cards face down."

It was Jay's turn now. 'Great, now I can't attack with these infernal swords up. But I'd best prep myself for something, because he's got three turns to prepare something for me.' Taking the single card in his hand, he placed it face up sideways on the disk. "Peten the Dark Clown, in Defense Mode."

A clown appeared, with large baggy pants and a fancy red hat appeared kneeling on its card hologram. (3/500/1200) "And that's all."

"My draw then," said the examiner. "I play Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two cards." Looking at his set of four cards, he made his move. I play Heavy Storm, which destroys all Spell and Trap cards on the field!"

"You must've really not liked your Swords of Revealing Light, nor your face down cards to do that," retorted Jay, as large gusts of wind blew all the Spell and Trap cards away.

"Actually I like them better than you think, especially if they are Statue of the Wicked cards. Which they are," shot back the examiner. "And for those cards destroyed, I can summon a Wicked token." Two tokens appeared on the examiners side of the field, giving him three monsters. "And now I shall sacrifice my tokens to bring forth my Moisture Creature!"

A large translucent ball shaped creature appeared with glowing yellow eyes. What was bizarre though was that an umbrella and what looked like some sort of drill came with the monster. (9/2800/2900) "Next I shall play Mask of Brutality, which raises Moisture Creature's Attack power by 1000! (9/3800/2900) And now I'll shift Chiron into attack mode. Moisture Creature will attack your Dark Magician!"

Suddenly, the drill that came with the Moisture Creature began to move. And it drilled right into the chest of the Dark Magician, destroying it. "And now Chiron will attack your Dark Clown!"

Chiron's staff stab was quick and deadly, as Peten was destroyed instantly. But Jay wasn't totally alarmed. "When Peten gets destroyed, I can automatically Special Summon another one by removing the one that got destroyed from play." He took a card from his deck and placed it sideways on the dueldisk. In response, another Peten appeared in Defense Mode.

Jay: 2700 LP

Examiner: 3000 LP

With a draw of the card, Jay could tell he was in trouble. 'Well I think I'm on to his strategy. And that involves Spell and Trap disruption. Evidence of that is four of my best Trap cards in the Graveyard, all of which could have come in handy right now,' Looking at his monster card in his hand, his eyes glowed slightly, 'But I think I'll be okay for at least another turn. I can play this monster, and I can summon another Peten when I lose this one.' "I may be down, but out I am not. I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Very well then. To keep Mask of Brutality's power in play, I will pay 1000 Life Points. And now, Chiron attack his Peten the Dark Clown again!" With another attack, another Peten was gone. "And my Moisture Creature will finish off your final clown. Now no more clowning around from you!" he mocked.

Jay: 2700 LP

Examiner: 2000 LP

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It didn't take a genius to figure out that this guy named Jay was running a Spellcaster deck. In Koji's mind, Jay was a good duelist. However, he ran out of cards pretty quickly in his hand. A smarter duelist would have rationed his hand more intelligently until it was absolutely necessary to use all the cards required to win. Koji noted that Jay would have to keep top decking (a term for those who rely on the draw of a card) in order to win, and then find a way perhaps to either replenish his hand, or find a way to knock down the examiner's powerful monsters.

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Jay was a little disappointed that his face down monster was not attacked. Now to activate its effect, he'd have to flip it and possibly risk an impending attack. Ah well, life never came without risks. "And now I flip my Magician of Faith into Attack Mode (1/300/400)! A female magician appeared, sporting a purple robe with maroon coloured underclothing that matched her hair with a crescent shaped staff.

Jay snapped a card out of his Graveyard. " And when she's flipped, her ability activates! Now I can move a Spell card from my Graveyard back to my hand, and I choose Graceful Charity!" He quickly drew three cards from his deck. Of the cards he held, he discarded two. "And now I activate Magical Dimension!" A human shaped capsule appeared that was held in place by chains. "By sacrificing my Magician of Faith, I can Special Summon one Spellcaster from my hand!"

The examiner watched with curiosity as the Magician of Faith dematerialized into a ball of light, which went into the capsule. His face turned to horror when he remembered the effects of Magical Dimension. Jay had a big grin on his face, and he was right to have one. "Say hello to Dark Magician Girl!"

The capsule opened, to reveal a human shaped figure. It was a female, dressed in a pink skirt and blue top. It matched her blue and pink boots, her armbands and her hat perfectly. And to top it off, a short blue and pink staff with a golden head. Her looks alone could dazzle a crowd. She gave the examiner a wink and a peace sign. (6/2000/1700)

Jay wasn't done. "And thanks to the Dark Magician you destroyed earlier, she gains 300 extra attack points (6/2300/1700). And Magical Dimension's second effect lets me destroy one monster on the field," looking around he made his choice, "so your Moisture Creature can start packing." With a poof of data, the Moisture Creature was sent to the Graveyard. "And now, time for me to take action! Dark Magician Girl, destroy Chiron the Mage with Dark Burning Attack!"

Dark Magician Girl floated elegantly in the air. She raised her wand high, as a ball of magical energy was quickly generated. And with a swing of the wand, the magical energy was aimed right at the opposing monster. It raised its shield in an attempt to defend itself, but it was no match.

"Beautiful and elegant, isn't she?" asked Jay.

Jay: 2700 LP

Examiner: 1500 LP

'I think I really got him on the ropes. His strategy involves disrupting my Spell and Trap cards. But now he's in a tight spot, and I got nothing other than my beautiful Dark Magician on the field. What can he really do?' Jay noticed that the examiner was taking his time playing his cards.

"I set one card face down and another face down in defense mode," the examiner glumly said.

"Then I guess I had better wrap this up then," declared Jay. "You fought well with a deck you barely know, but knowledge truly does beat ignorance in the end." Drawing a card, he continued, "And now I play the Spell card Nobleman of Crossout! This automatically removes your face down monster from the game." A black hole opened up and took the revealed Cyber Jar down with it. "And since I doubt that face down card can harm me, I'm gonna finish this now. Dark Magician Girl, direct attack!"

The bald examiner braced himself as he was struck directly by the magician's attack. The force of the attack knocked him to the floor.

Jay: 2700 LP

Examiner: 0 LP

"And that's that," said Jay as the holograms disappeared from the field. He heard the thunderous applause from the crowd as they cheered.

The examiner got up after being knocked over and walked over to Jay. "Congratulations son. Your skills are excellent. However, there is much you still need to learn. I think a spot in our Duel Academy will do wonders for your skills."

"Thanks sir!" said Jay shaking his hand. "You won't regret losing to me!"

A/N: And there we have it! The first chapter of this fic! CC would be appreciated as I wanna make this one good. I'm also looking for additional OCs to add to this. I'll either take the top six submitted to me should anyone be interested, or the first six I get. You can review, PM, or email me. I hope you enjoyed this. Be cool!

**Card of the Episode**

Moisture Creature

9/2800/2900

Attribute: Light

Type: Fairy

Effect: If you Tribute Summon this monster by offering 3 monsters on the field as a Tribute, destroy all Magic and Trap Cards on your opponent's side of the field.

Jay: Hmm, this is quite an interesting monster. If you're willing to make the 3 monster investment your opponent, which was me in this case can say good bye to his entire back row of Spells or Traps.


	2. West vs East, Jay vs Koji

A/N: Well, for the most part, it was a warm reception. But it looks like I'm on the right track. Got one small request though. For those wanting to submit an OC, I'm looking for female OCs. I'll accept male OCs too, but females are preferred at the moment. Anyways, today is the boat trip and then the arrival at Duel Academy.

"Woohoo! Now this, rocks!" said Jay aloud as he settled into his living quarters. "A ride on a ferry, awesome food, hot girls, and excellent duelists; who can ask for more!"

After the examinations had all finished, written and the duel exam, all those that had passed at Toronto's tryouts were then awarded with an all expenses paid trip to Duel Academy, where they would spend the next nine months. Learning how to duel and improving his math grades all in the same place.

After leaving his duffle bag in his room, he went out to see the rest of the ship. The atmosphere here reminded him of that place where he had done the examination duel minus several hundred people. Jay was pumped. He knew it was going to be a blast. There was the recreational room where most people were socializing, and outside, there were girls sunbathing on the deck, others playing in the swimming pool, and some just enjoying the crisp sea air. As for Jay, he was more interested in just looking at his cards. The ones that had gotten him through the examination duel.

As he sat at a table in the ship's cafeteria, a thought then came to him; "Hey if those teachers are supposed to be amongst the best duelists out there, then how I was able to win?" he wondered aloud. "Was he holding back?"

"That's because those examiners were only using test decks and not their real decks," a cheery voice said right beside his ear.

"YAAAHHH!" Jay yelled as he nearly jumped out of his seat, surprised someone entered his conversation with himself. Looking to see who it was, it was a girl. She had brown eyes and long black hair that gave her a down-to-earth look. She had a rather cute looking button nose and had a dark hairclip that held some of her hair back.

Regaining his composure, Jay spoke to the girl, "Hi there. You surprised me more than any trap card ever could."

"Oh I'm sorry," the girl replied apologetically. "I'm just trying to make some new friends here."

"Nah, I've had worse scares. Don't feel bad," Jay waved off. "Come have a seat."

"Oh thank you," the girl bowed to him before taking a seat opposite to him. "By the way, my name's Namida. Namida Kuriyashi! You're Jay Gilder right, the guy who used the Dark Magician?"

"Yup, the one and only," Jay boasted proudly. "Master of the Magicians, following in the footsteps of Yugi Moto, the King of Games!"

Jay then focused more on Namida, "So which dorm are you going into?"

Namida bowed her head down, "I used to think I would be in Obelisk, but now I'm not so sure."

"How come?" asked Jay, "I thought all girls went to Obelisk. They're pretty lucky if you ask me."

"There had been some changes, come the end of last year," answered Namida. "Since Duel Academy started six years ago, all girls went to the Obelisk academy. But then Kaiba Corp. received complaints that there weren't enough girls attending the academy. So Kaiba Corp built two more dorms; a Slifer Red dorm, and a Ra Yellow Dorm for the girls."

"What's wrong with that?" asked Jay. "Your chances of getting into the Academy are now the same as the guys."

"Do you know the layouts of the dorms?"

Jay thought about it for a second, "Somewhat. I know that Obelisk is the best, Slifer is the worst, and Ra is the middle of the road."

"And I obviously don't want to end up in the Slifer Academy," said Namida. "I've worked too hard for it."

"Then you'll obviously get good results like I got," declared Jay. "I'm probably bound for the Obelisk Academy, because I got awesome written scores and I won my examination duel!"

"I must beg to differ," interjected another voice. Jay and Namida turned to face the new voice. Next to them stood a boy, about five feet ten inches, with a solid build. He had glasses and short slick black hair. His face showed his origins came from the Orient. To top it off, he wore a dark blue blazer jacket. On his right leg hung what could only be his deck box

"Only students who spent a junior year with a dueling academy AND high marks have the honours of enrolling in the Obelisk Blue dorm. And I doubt you have all that criteria."

"Yeah so what?" Jay shot back as he stood up to match the other boy's height. "Who the hell do you think you are walking around acting like Mr. Bigshot of the Academy?"

"Well for starters, I am a student that will be enrolling in Obelisk Blue this semester. So number one, I obviously have incredible grades, and number two my dueling skills are almost completely unmatched on this ship. Only a few surpass me in skill."

"And you know what Bigshot?" retorted Jay, "I'll be one of them!"

The oriental boy's eyes narrowed, "Is that a challenge?"

"If that's what you call it in Japan," said Jay strapping on his dueldisk. "In Canada, it's called 'My Foot in Your Ass'."

Pool Deck

Chris Gear stretched his arms out and relaxed. He had just had a nice swim in the pool, and decided to let Mother Nature dry himself off. The sun was glowing right into his blue eyes, so he covered them with a pair of sunglasses. He had a rather skinny build for his age, and spiky black hair to top it off.

He didn't do so well on his entry exams, but he managed to make up for it in the examination duel. With his deck, which he created he hoped he would be able to progress quickly, and hopefully he could pick up his grades.

However, his attention was now turned to what he saw at the pool. Nobody was in the pool anymore, as everyone focused on what was going on along the pool edge. On one width of the pool, was a brown haired guy wearing black shorts and a white t-shirt, who looked like he was from either North America or Europe. The other was oriental in appearance and had a blue blazer on. One look at his face instantly told Chris who he was… Koji Kuramoto. Chris remembered this guy all too well. Hopefully this guy knew what he was up against.

"Okay!" shouted Jay, "Time to show you how Canadians kick ass!" He activated his dueldisk and prepared to duel.

"Your overconfidence will be your undoing," declared Koji. He activated his dueldisk too, but his make was different from Jay's design.

"LET'S DUEL!" they both yelled.

Jay: 4000LP

Koji: 4000LP

"I'll start this off!" said Jay. He then drew the top card from his deck, 'Let's be cautious for now, who knows what Bigshot here will pull.'

"I set one card in defense mode and that's all for now."

"That's it?" mocked Koji as he drew. "I think I'll also set one in defense mode. I'm done."

"You mock my move, then you imitate?" Jay drew. Selecting a card, he placed it face up on his dueldisk.

"I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior in Attack Mode!" With a flash, emerged a warrior dressed in red and yellow armour. The magician, sport a sword and shield rather than the traditional staff. (4/1600/1000)

"And because it automatically gets a Spell Counter upon being summoned, it gets 300 Attack Points! (4/1900/1000) Now go Breaker, attack his face down card!"

"Fool," muttered Koji as the magic swordsman slashed his card. "You destroyed my Cyber Jar! (3/900/900)" A satellite shaped creature appeared before exploding taking the other monsters with it. "And when it gets destroyed, all monsters are destroyed. We then draw five cards, show them to each other, and Special Summon any monsters with four stars or less."

"Fine," Jay drew his cards. "I drew Peten the Dark Clown, Old Vindictive Magician, Negate Attack, Mage Power, and Premature Burial. Peten, and Vindictive Magician are going face down Defense Mode."

"I draw my five cards," said Koji. "I have drawn Program Drive, Rairyu, Fuuryu, Power Bond, and Galeon. And Rairyu and Fuuryu are going into Attack Mode." (2x 4/1800/1300) As his monsters materialized, two humanoid machines identically shaped appeared. One was a yellow coloured with a dump bucket acting as its surfboard, the other with a green body instead with a mixer on its back. Jay sighed. It was a two on two and eight cards in his hand.

Two of them went into his dueldisk's Spell and Trap slots, "Two cards face down, and I discard of one card and that's all for now."

"My go," declared Koji, "And now check this out, I'll merge my two monsters together using their ability of Symmetrical Docking to form a new monster. Meet my new monster, GekiRyuJin! (6/2400/1500)" Fuuryu and Rairyu jumped into the air as they formed up into the new monster. The new monster that took their place was half yellow with the bucket mounted on its forearm, half green with the mixer as its forearm, and a yellow head with red eyes, and a glossy chest.

"Now I'll activate his special ability. He gets to flip one monster face up and negate its ability." To Jay's shock, one of his monsters was flipped, which turned out to be his Old Vindictive Magician. (2/450/600) Now its effect wouldn't activate and destroy Koji's monster like he had hoped it would.

"Damn it!" he cursed aloud.

"Damn it is right," boasted Koji. "GekiRyuJin, attack his Old Vindictive Magician now!"

As the mechanized being moved to attack, Jay hit a button on his dueldisk, "Guess again Bigshot! I activate my Trap Card! Negate Attack will negate all attacks for one turn!" Koji watched as monster punched into a swirling barrier, which pushed his monster back.

"Not bad, I guess you're somewhat worthy of some respect. Two cards face down." Two flashes of light revealed two more cards before him as he indicated for Jay to start.

"Good, now for my move!" With that Jay swiped another card off the deck. 'Now he's in trouble!' "I sacrifice my two monsters, in order to summon my Buster Blader! (7/2600/2300)" Instantly a knight with great sword clad in purple and silver armour materialized before him as it let out a battle cry.

"Your … machine is no match for my warrior! Now go and attack!"

"This is why I'm a top ranked student," Koji shot back. "Reveal Trap Card, Mechanics over Organics!"

"What's that!"

"Whenever my machine monster is attacked by a non-machine monster that is stronger than my own, my monster gains 1000 Attack Points!" (6/3400/1500) To Jay's horror, his warrior was parried by the machine's dump bucket left arm then hit hard with a devastating punch from the mixer arm that sent it flying before it dispersed into data.

"Damn."

Jay: 3200LP

Koji: 4000LP

Chris watched the duel closely from his vantage point. From what he knew, Koji hadn't even brought out his best monster to attack this other guy with, and had already trumped what was likely one of his best monsters. 'Come on. Hurry before he brings 'it' out.'

Jay quickly selected another card in his hand, "I play Premature Burial to raise Buster Blader from the graveyard in Attack Mode at a cost of 800 Life Points."

Jay: 2400LP

Koji: 4000LP

The purple armoured warrior emerged from within the ground, and aimed its sword at Koji's machine.

But Jay wasn't done, "And then I boost its strength with Mage Power. This raises my warrior's Attack and Defense Points by 500 for every Spell or Trap Card I have on the field, which is two." (7/3600/3300)

Now Koji drew his card. 'Hmm, he's good, but my draws are just better. Like this move.' "Now I activate Limiter Removal. This card, will double my GekiRyuJin attack points! (6/4800/1500). Go my machine! Blow away his Buster Blader with Wind Cannon!" At Koji's command, his machine executed his orders. GekiRyuJin trained its right arm on Buster Blader delivering a powerful whirlwind that blew Jay's warrior away and dispersed it.

"Holy shit," Jay muttered. He was in big trouble. With a monster that strong he would need to be lucky.

Jay: 1200LP

Koji: 4000LP

"However, you have some good fortune," explained Koji. "Because I used Limiter Removal, all machine monsters are destroyed at the end of this turn, but not before I throw a face down card. My turn ends." The moment he said that last sentence, his GekiRyuJin began to act like it was overloading, sparking, before downright exploding.

"Draw!" declared Jay. 'This card will help plenty. I can get a Spell Card back with this,' "Now I set one monster in Defense Mode and then…"

"Not so fast," interrupted Koji. "Now I'll activate this Trap Card, Call of the Haunted. It lets me bring back one monster from my Graveyard in Attack Mode, so say hello to GekiRyuJin!"

The dump bucket and mixer hybrid humanoid robot returned roared as it leaped up from the ground and back onto the field at Koji's command. (6/2400/1500) "And now its special ability activates, flipping your monster face up and negating its effect!" Jay's face down monster then flipped up, revealing Magician of Faith. It was a girl with lavender hair and a purple robe with magenta underclothing. (1/300/400)

"I'm not completely dust this turn," Jay angrily called out. "For I play this: my Swords of Revealing Light!" Large glowing swords rained from the sky bombarding Koji's field. "This will prevent you from attacking for three whole turns, starting now."

'All right!' thought Namida who watched the duel with great interest. 'This buys Jay three turns to find something to ultimately crush that GekiRyuJin!'

"Very well," Koji stated as he began. "Now I'll play this. My Polymerization Spell Card. To fuse Galeon and Cyborg Guy in my hand to summon this, GaiGar! (6/2000/1600) A flash of light covered the swimming area. When it cleared, the light revealed a robot with a lion chest, humanoid head with a vertical horn, and humanoid arms and legs robot.

"Now you have two monsters to contend with. But to wrap things up, I will summon Drill Gao in Defense Mode. (4/300/600)" What looked like a black tank with two yellow and red canopies appeared next to GaiGar. "This makes it 3-on-1. To finish, one card face down and back to you."

"And so it is." Jay snapped another card.

"Hmm, it seems that all it takes is a challenging duel to humble you I've noticed," said an observant Koji. "You're attitude changed since the start of this duel."

"Obviously, because I've only got 1200 Life Points left, and that leaves me no room for much boasting. I'm sorry for calling you a big shot earlier."

"Good. You have humility indeed. That is one skill you will require when you face even more challenging opponents at Duel Academy. You were overconfident right off the bat, and that likely threw your game off."

"You're right" resigned Jay. "Thanks for teaching me that lesson."

"Good. Now let's finish this duel, so these kids can use the pool again!" Koji finished. "And I believe it's your move!"

"You bet!" replied Jay with a big grin on his face. "And I got this: Graceful Charity! Now I can draw three cards and discard two!" Quickly making his choices, he snapped up another card, "I sacrifice my Magician of Faith, in order to summon my Chaos Command Magician!" (6/2400/1900) Emerged from the shadows came another sorcerer, clad almost completely in a green robe with gold rims around it, which matched the colour of the staff it wielded.

'All right' cheered Namida mentally. 'That puts him on par with that guy's GekiRyuJin!'

"And that's not all. Now I activate the Field Spell Card Yami!" Jay's field slot opened up on his dueldisk, and he slipped the appropriate card inside. Soon a dark aura began to engulf the entire swimming area covering it in what looked like a dark void.

"Like it?" Jay asked. "I know my Spellcasters do, as they now each receive an extra 200 Attack and Defense Points, which includes my Chaos Command Magician!" (6/2600/2100) He pointed at GekiRyuJin, "And now it's no match for my monster. Go Chaos Command Magician! Attack his GekiRyuJin with Chaotic Magic Strike!" The green mage wound up, generated a magical orb of energy before firing it at the intended target. It tried to resist the attack, but it was in vain, as the hologram exploded, taking some of Koji's Life Points with it.

Jay: 1200LP

Koji: 3800LP

"All right!" said Jay. "Finally Buster Blader has been avenged!"

"And so you did," replied Koji. "But don't you ever ask yourself if that was the best move? You had juicier targets to hit."

"What do you mean?" Jay asked in surprise, raising an eyebrow. What could've been juicier than his strongest monster?

"I mean this," answered Koji. "First I activate Pot of Greed, which let's me draw two cards. Next I activate my all powerful Spell Card, Program Drive!" A magic card appeared, displaying an image of a control panel with a glass casing on it, covering a button. The casing itself had the word DRIVE in bold letters.

"This is the price you will pay for not destroying one of my other monsters! Now I merge GaiGar, Drill Gao on the field, with Stealth Gao and Liner Gao in my hand."

"This is bad," muttered Chris as he saw what was about to happen.

Koji had a big smile on his face as he watched his two of Gao Machines, a bullet train and a B-2 stealth bomber facsimile, materialized as they began attaching themselves to his GaiGar. GaiGar's arms folded back behind him as Liner Gao became his shoulders, his waist twisted in which then Drill Gao split in half and became the lower legs, and Stealth Gao landed behind GaiGar with the nose down as its two engines mounted onto Liner Gao creating the forearm as hands twisted out. The back end of Stealth Gao shot out a helmet as it landed on GaiGar's head, replacing the original face with a completely new face. It had a golden like horn much like a gundam with an emerald in the center of it. Its head was black with red, and its silver mouth guard had an outlining of fangs.

"Now rookie, say hello to my ultimate monster: Yuusha'Oh GaoGaiGar! (9/3200/2800)" Jay could only stare in awe at the mighty machine. Its towering presence in the dark realms of the Yami Field Spell Card seemingly darkened the field. It was massive! Koji was only about knee high to this thing.

"Now I activate Mystical Space Typhoon, which destroys your Swords of Revealing Light! And now, feel its wrath! Drill Knee attack GaoGaiGar!" Jay watched as GaoGaiGar charged his Chaos Command Magician. GaoGaiGar brought back one let as it prepared to strike Chaos Commander Magician with the drill it sported on its knee. People turned away in disgust the drill grounded it up into raw meat before being deleted from the field.

Jay: 600LP

Koji: 3800LP

'Oh my god,' thought Jay. 'That… thing just ground up my best monster on the field. What can I really do now?'

"That was gross," Namida muttered.

"I hate it when he uses that attack," Chris muttered as he rubbed his stomach.

'This is bad. With that thing out I'm a sitting duck. Well, really I don't know what I can do, but there's got to be a way out of this.' "I don't care how powerful that thing is, I'm not giving up!" He slammed a face down card sideways in the monster zone and inserted a face down card in the Spell/Trap zone. "That's all."

"I bet. GaoGaiGar, attack with Broken Magnum!" At his master's command, the giant machine came down with a powerful punch to the face down card. Revealed was another Magician of Faith. (1/300-500/400-600) In short, it was pulverized.

"Looks like your, powered up monsters don't stand a chance. Look, you've fought well, toss it in."

"Well for starters," Jay began, "Magician of Faith let's me, bring my Graceful…"

"_Wait. Pick this card instead."_

'Huh, what was that?' Jay wondered. Suddenly, something took control of his hands and guided him to his Mage Power card. 'Mage Power?'

"Yes," answer the voice. It had a female's tone to it.

'Well I assume it wants to help, so I'll listen!' "Change of plans! I'm moving Mage Power back to my hand instead! And wanna know something? I got one last surprise and it ain't over just yet!"

"Then let's see it! My turn's done! Show me what you've got!" demanded Koji.

"Go for it Jay!" called Namida.

"Take 'em down!" called out Chris.

"I will! Here goes! First I reveal my Call of the Haunted Trap Card. It lets me raise my Buster Blader for one last try!" (7/2600/2300) Buster Blader was now on the field, glaring face to face with GaoGaiGar.

"Next, I will play this, my Polymerization Spell Card. This will merge together my Buster Blader, with the Dark Magician in my hand. Now prepare to meet my ultimate magician!" The two monsters flew up into the sky, and were consumed by a blinding light in the dark realm. As the light dispersed, a new being floated down covered in a brilliant aura. It was another magician, clad in a dark green and topaz coloured clothing. It looked like a cross of light armour and a magician's robe. It wielded a staff with a blade at the head of it.

"Say hello to my Dark Paladin!" (8/2900-3100/2400-2600)

"Excellent," said Koji. "Two powerhouses going head to head, but mine still has the edge."

"Not until I activate Mage Power, which will raise my Dark Paladin's Attack and Defense Points by 500 for all Spell and Trap cards. That includes my Call of the Haunted that is still on the field, my Yami Field Card, and this face down card. This gives him an additional 2000 Attack and Defense Points!" (8/5100/4600) "Now it is time to say goodbye to GaoGaiGar! Go Dark Paladin, ATTACK!"

The mage's staff began to glow. Then it charged at the monster, before swinging its staff in mid-flight, sending a wave of energy at it. The magical force threw GaoGaiGar back as it short circuited and exploded almost throwing Koji into the pool.

Koji: 1900LP

Jay: 600LP

"How'd you like that?" asked Jay "One more attack, and I have this duel won."

"That you would," said Koji. "However, there is no need for this duel to continue."

"What do you mean?" inquired Jay who was now really confused.

"There is more to dueling than just winning or losing," explained Koji. "Sometimes, important lessons that need to be taught are more important than any win or loss. I may have the lead, and perhaps the necessary cards to make a comeback, but alas you have learned the lesson I wished for you to learn. In a sense, you have won by learning this important lesson in humility." He placed his hand over his dueldisk. "I submit the duel."

Koji: 0LP

Jay: 600LP

Once his counter hit zero, the holograms began to fade away until the pool deck could be seen fully again. The people gave Jay a thunderous applause for winning the duel.

"Alright, I did it!" yelled Jay who pumped his fist in the air.

"Well done Jay," murmured Koji as he walked away. "I look forward to facing you when we both are truly dueling at our best." With that, he walked back inside the ship.

A/N: And how was that people? Awesome or what? For those who also have read Marine Brother Shran's fic, I'll say for the record that he gave me permission to use his ideas and OC for this duel. And I also introduced some OC requests too. Expect to see more of them too. Well next time is the arrival at Duel Academy! Until next time, be cool!

A/O/N: I do not own Yuusha'Oh GaoGaiGar either. I'd be rich if I did.

**Card of the Episode**

Dark Paladin

8/2900/2400

Attribute: Dark

Type: Spellcaster

Fusion: Dark Magician + Buster Blader

Effect: This monster can only be Special Summoned by Fusion Summon. As long as this card remains face-up on the field, you can negate the activation of 1 Spell Card and destroy the Spell card by discarding 1 card from your hand. The ATK of this card increases by 500 points for each Dragon-Type monster on the field and in either player's Graveyard.

Jay: Say hello to a powerhouse that lives in my deck. This monster, when summoned is a force to be reckoned with. Not only can it bring Dragon monster to their knees with Dragon-killing ATK increasing, but it can make every card in your hand a Magic Jammer. Just lethal in the right hands. Koji learned that lesson pretty well.


	3. Settling In

A/N: Well I guess I can say I got another warm reaction. Guess it takes time for stuff to build up. Well now they arrive at Duel Academy. Things will start to take off from there. Also expect to see more OCs, along the way. Some by request, some by my thoughts alone.

The excitement was growing throughout the minds of the many teenagers currently on the ferry. Obviously, the vessel was within minutes of arriving at its destination. And that place was none other than Kaiba Corporation's Duel Academy. Where students could learn how to duel, and grab a high school education while they were at it.

Among these excited duelists, was none other than Jay Gilder. After pulling off his victory against Koji Kuramoto a few hours earlier, he was determined to carry his winning streak right into the academy.

"Okay, bring on this academy!" he shouted into the air, "I'm ready to duel every single one of them!"

A voice then came on the intercom, "Attention people! We will be arriving at Duel Academy in ten minutes. I advise you all to return to your quarters to gather your belongings. Kaiba Corporation is not responsible for the loss of any personal belongings. Thank you."

So on cue, Jay returned to his living quarters to retrieve his duffel bag. Once he gathered all his things, which included his deck, dueldisk, a box of extra cards he had, extra clothing, a toothbrush, and a few books to top it all off.

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Duel Academy Island

"Well, here comes the fresh meat for the grinder eh?" one male voice said.

"Looks like it," another male voice replied.

"Whatever. Who cares really besides you two?" retorted a female voice.

Three teens were relaxing by the port. Apparently they were enjoying the fresh sea air, or at the least they were loitering. Two of them were male, with the third one being female. The boys wore large blue blazers, while the girl wore a white blazer with a blue miniskirt.

"Well I wonder how many of those losers are Slifers," one boy wondered. He had a skinny build to go along with his spiky blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Why, so another Slifer can kick your spiky headed ass Yasuo?" the other boy shot back. This boy was much bigger built, and taller too. He had spiky black hair to compliment brown eyes. His facial features showed that he was from the Orient. "I remember how you got destroyed by one of those Slifer slackers, during a duel in which Dr. Crowler had previously commended you for your 'phenomenal' dueling skills."

"Speak of that duel ever again Yamato, and you will regret it," said Yasuo.

"Why don't both you boys shut up," ordered the girl who looked up from a book she was reading. She was rather tall for a girl, and she appeared to have been working out, as one could tell from looking at her muscular arms and legs that she was physically very strong. "I'm trying to read here. If you two wish to fight so badly, do it where I can't hear you."

"Come on Jelena," replied Yamato, "aren't you the least bit excited about some new kids to thrash?"

"There is only one duelist I'm interested in facing, and it's definitely not one of those so-called Slifer slackers." 'And he'll be here soon too.'

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Duel Academy Auditorium

Everyone who was either a student or a teacher was in listening to this speech being given by the headmaster of the Academy. The man went by the name of Chancellor Shepard, a nearly bald man likely in his mid to late forties. He seemed like a cheery and optimistic person, yet he was borderline mulling the auditorium with the speech he'd repeated year after year off what Jay assumed were some cue cards.

Taking a look around he noticed everyone else in the room if they were not teachers were wearing either a red, yellow, or blue blazer with the blue blazers looking like huge trench coats. Upon being processed, he confirmed what Koji had said on the ferry that those in the Obelisk Blue dorm were likely the best in the school in terms of dueling skills and academic grades. On top of that, they had also either spent a year at a junior school or had special connections. The Ra Yellow dorm was the best any freshman could get at the academy. It was filled with many good duelists that had excellent grades, but didn't meet the criteria to get into Obelisk Blue. And then there was Slifer Red. One would have to ask themselves how in the hell they got into the academy in the first place if they were placed in Slifer Red. This dorm belonged to those who had either the worst dueling skills and/or low grades.

"And so I wish you all well in your studies and in your duels," Jay caught the last of the speech. Once the man had finished, the entire body gave the headmaster a round of applause. Afterwards the students were asked to go to their dorms to get settled in. And by sometime in the evening, they were to meet in the dorm's respective banquet halls for the ceremonial dinner.

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Ra Yellow Dorms

"Okay, I think this has to be it," said Jay as he wandered the buildings halls. He had a few wrong turns here and there. Nothing to really worry about as he was in no rush at all. At least he didn't end up in the girls Ra Yellow like a few boys claimed to have by accident.

Over one arm, he had his duffel bag with everything he had packed inside it. On his left arm, he had the Duel Academy issued dueldisk that the school had issued to every student. It looked a little like the old Kaiba Corp. dueldisk that he had, but this one didn't swing all the way around when it activated. Best of all, it was brand new too. Finally, he found the dorm that was assigned to him. Without further ado, he slipped the card key into the lock. Once it accepted his card, he opened the door.

Jay was amazed by the layout of the room. It was half a star short of being a four star room in a hotel. There were two beds, which were about queen sized, two dressers that were directly in front of each bed. In the middle, was a table that the television was sitting on. Off to the side was where the bathroom was. Across were the stove, sink and most importantly, the refrigerator. In between was a table with four chairs.

"Hmm, nice setup," said Jay aloud. "Well I'm calling bed by the door here. And I better do so before the roommate decides to make himself welcome. He dumped his bag on the bed and sat next to it. "Ah, I think I'm gonna enjoy it here. I wonder if we get room service too."

Just then Jay heard someone knocking on the door. "Now who could be knocking on the door already? I thought the banquet wasn't for another few hours." Jay walked over to the door and opened it. It was a boy, about Jay's age presumably. He had black spiky hair and it looked like the yellow blazer he was wearing was a tad big on him. "Uh… can I help you?"

"Hi," the boy began, "I'm Chris Gear, and I guess this is my room."

"Well, if your room number is 139, then yes it is," said Jay. "Come on in. Oh and I claimed this bed already, so that one's yours."

"Alright." Chris proceeded to dump his stuff for the moment on his bed when he realized something. "Hey! You're the guy who beat Koji Kuramoto on the boat. You were awesome in that duel!"

"I sure was!" declared Jay. "He learned the hard way that Canada kicks ass! Courtesy of Jay Gilder!"

"Well that's one way to put it," chuckled Chris. "So I guess the banquet is in a few hours."

"Apparently so. Until then, I'm just going to chill until then. It's been a rather long day and I'm tired."

"Same here," replied Chris. "The examinations were tense as it was. Add on the ferry ride, getting processed, and then the speech from the Chancellor. Makes for a very tiring day."

"How'd you do on those exams?" asked Jay. "I got a 96 on the written work, and pulled magic tricks that'd shock Harry Houdini on the examiner."

"I barely got into Ra. I only got a 71 on the written exam, but I completely destroyed the examiner during the duel. I may not look like it on paper, but on the field, I can tear my opponents apart.

"Ouch," said Jay.

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Obelisk Dueling Arena

"I didn't know this was your idea of a welcome Yasuo," said Koji as he walked into the stadium.

"Usually it isn't, but if it can grab me the number 4 spot in the Academy, I'll go for it," shot back Yasuo.

"If I remember correctly, the reason your rank went down was because you lost to a Slifer, am I right?" Koji inquired.

"You will not speak of that!" yelled Yasuo.

"Well it has connections to the reason you challenged me as soon as I settled into my room," replied Koji.

Yasuo activated his dueldisk. "Know this Koji! I'm gonna crush you and take the number 4 spot!"

"Very well." Koji now stepped into the arena and activated his dueldisk. "Do you want to lose or be completely destroyed?"

"The hell you will! I heard you lost to some Ra reject on the boat! I'm sure I can flatten you!"

"I was merely teaching him a lesson. If I wanted to, I'd do to him what I am about to do to you." Koji now picked up five cards off his deck, with Yasuo following suit.

"LET'S DUEL!"

Koji: 4000LP

Yasuo: 4000LP

"Since I challenged you, I'll start," said Yasuo snapping a card from his deck. Quickly looking at his cards, he picked the one he wanted and placed it on the dueling zone. "I summon Pyramid Turtle in Defense Mode! (4/1200/1400) On Yasuo's side of the field, emerged a large turtle with a pyramid for a shell. It had its head and legs retracted into the shell to protect itself.

"And to wrap things up. I throw this card face down," finished Yasuo.

'Hmm, slightly obvious,' wondered Koji. 'That face down card is probably meant to protect his turtle from a monster effect. As its effect only activates when it's destroyed in battle. Sitting around isn't an option, as I know Zombies can be made to swarm.' "I summon V-Tiger Jet in Attack Mode. (4/1600/1800) A blue and yellow fighter jet emerged that looked like a tiger. "Next I play the Spell Card, Frontline Base. This card allows me to Special Summon one Union monster from my hand each turn. And I choose W-Wing Catapult. (4/1300/1500) Simply put, this monster looked like a blue catapult.

"Your point is?" asked Yasuo.

"It's simple really. V and W? Like in the alphabet. Obviously these two go together, as you will see. They can combine to form a new monster, by removing the original cards from play. Now meet my VW-Tiger Catapult. (6/2000/2100) Now the V-Tiger Jet was resting upon the W-Wing Catapult. It looked like an upgraded ship.

"And now by tossing out one last card from my hand," continued Koji, "I can change the battle position of one of your monsters." To Yasuo's horror, his Pyramid Turtle emerged from its shell and stood up on the field. It was now in Attack Mode. "Tiger Catapult, attack his turtle now with Swift Tiger Missiles!"

The fighter jet launched several missiles at the odd looking turtle. It didn't stand a chance as the explosions created by the missiles destroyed it.

Koji: 4000LP

Yasuo: 3200LP

"Feel like you jumped the gun?" asked Koji with a rare grin. I'll warn you now that it's going to get worse."

"Not a chance in hell," smirked Yasuo. "When you destroy Pyramid Turtle in battle, I can Special Summon another monster with 2000 Defense Points or less from my deck. That gives me lots of flexibility. Quickly going through his deck, he found what he wanted. "Now I'll summon Ryu Kokki in Attack Mode!" (6/2400/2000) Now Yasuo had a large monster that had a body made up almost entirely of human skulls.

Koji didn't flinch at all. "One card face down and that shall end my turn."

"Draw!" called Yasuo. "Now check this out. I play Card of Safe Return. As long as this card stays in play, whenever I Special Summon a monster from my graveyard, I may draw one card. And next I play Book of Life! This lets me Special Summon a Zombie from my graveyard. And I summon Pyramid Turtle in Defense Mode. And because of Card of Safe Return's power, I can draw one card."

'Ah, so my face down card does concern you. And the fact you placed it in Defense Mode means you're using Pyramid Turtle as a wall should your collection of skulls get crushed.' Koji liked how this was going.

In the stands, a few other Obelisk students were watching this with some degree of interest, namely Yamato and Jelena. They didn't seem all that impressed with Yasuo's dueling so far.

"He couldn't wait, huh Jelena," Yamato stated.

"Let the fool learn the hard way," replied Jelena who was still reading her book and paying little attention to the duel itself. "Besides, Yasuo will give us a topic to discuss over at the banquet. How he's still the 5th ranked duelist in the Academy."

"Well let's see how this plays out."

"Ryu Kokki! Attack his Tiger Catapult!" ordered Yasuo. The skull monster advanced on the fighter jet with incredible fury.

"Now learn a lesson in advanced strategy," interjected Koji.

"What do you mean?" demanded Yasuo.

"What I mean is that I deliberately destroyed your turtle earlier so you could summon a bigger creature to fall into my trap," answered Koji. "And now it's going to cost you. Reveal Trap Card, Mechanics over Organics! Whenever a non-Machine type attacks a Machine type, I can use this card. It raises the attacked Machine by 1000 Attack Points for the remainder of the turn. In this case, I choose my VW-Tiger Catapult. (6/3000/2100) Now, counter attack!"

Yasuo watched in horror as the Tiger Catapult took flight and launched missiles at his monster. The skulls began to scatter and the beast collapsed under the lack of infrastructure.

Koji: 4000LP

Yasuo: 2600LP

"Dammit," muttered Yasuo. He looked at his hand and sighed. "I end my turn."

"Let's see if I can wrap this up here," said Koji. "First I play Pot of Greed." Koji drew two cards from his deck. Eyeing them over carefully, he made his move. "First I summon X-Head Cannon in Attack Mode. (4/1800/1500) A blue and yellow machine appeared with two large cannons. "And thanks to Frontline Base still being in effect, I can Special Summon a Union Monster to the field. And I choose Y-Dragon Head. (4/1500/1600) Joining the other two monsters was a red dragon shaped machine." Koji kept playing cards though. "And my last card is Graceful Charity. I may draw three cards, and then I toss out two of those cards." Koji was definitely in full control even though he had only one card in his hand and had just gone through many cards so far. "And then to play my last card, Monster Reborn. This will revive the Z-Metal Tank I just sent to the Graveyard." (4/1500/1300) A yellow tank shaped creature was now on the field.

"Oh my god," muttered Yasuo. "You can't be…"

"My advice to you in the future is to know what you'll be up against before you do something stupid like challenge me to a duel," retorted Koji. "I told you I was going to thrash you, and now I will. Now I merge X-Head Cannon with Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank.

The few spectators watched in awe as Koji's monsters began to merge together. The wings of Y-Dragon Head disappeared, and its feet retracted, and attached to the top of Z-Metal Tank. A spot on the back of red dragon opened up which revealed the plug in for X-Head Cannon. It looked a tad odd, but there was no denying its power.

"Now meet XYZ-Dragon Cannon!" Koji declared. (8/2800/2600)

"But wait," interrupted Yasuo. "You need to discard a card to use either of your monster's effects. And you have no cards in your hand."

"You are partially correct. But you fail to see what I truly plan to unlock. Now watch as I now merge my VW-Tiger Catapult with my XYZ-Dragon Cannon!"

If anyone were awed by what happened the first time, this would take the cake. As now the two machines merged together. A large flash of light consumed the entire area. But once that light subsided, Yasuo could only cower at the large machine monster standing behind Koji.

"Beg for mercy Yasuo, before my VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!" Koji demanded. (8/3000/2800) Compared to what merged it together, this machine was definitely huge. The V-Tiger Jet helped make up the head and the back of this mighty mech. W-Wing Catapult's components was the legs. X-Head Cannon made up the other half of the head, the upper half of the body, and it also kept its two large cannons and its arms. Y-Dragon Head was the waistline, which also contained a cannon in its mouth. Surprisingly, its large red wings had returned, and attached to the back of the V-Tiger Jet. And Z-Metal Tank was split into two pieces each with a cannon, which were held in the arms of the X-Head Cannon.

But Koji wasn't done. "And now its effect activates. Once per turn, I can remove one card your side of the field from play. And I'll remove your Pyramid Turtle from play."

Yasuo looked on in horror as his last line of defense faded from the field. And Koji knew the one face down card wasn't going to help him at all. Koji spoke again. "Now, V to Z, finish him off with Ultimate Cannon Firestorm!"

With one, shot from each of the five cannons equipped on the giant machine, Yasuo was sent flying, his Life Points going with him… down.

Koji: 4000LP

Yasuo: 0LP

"Thanks for a topic to discuss at tonight's banquet," said Koji to the fallen Yasuo as he walked out of the Obelisk Arena, leaving the crowd shocked and stunned

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Ra Dorm

"So, you're really a big fan of Team Zero, aren't you?" asked Jay as he watched Chris put up some posters that had pictures of Team Zero on them.

"Yeah, I got all sorts of stuff on them," replied Chris. "I got posters, DVDs of their duels in the many tournaments they've been in, and their exploits on their many clashes with the supernatural."

"So," inquired Jay as he looked at a magazine, "who would be your favourite member of Team Zero? Mine would have to be Reku Yamashita. It's amazing how he makes Fire and Machine Types work together in the same deck."

"My favourite is Akina Oshiro. Not only is she hot, but she uses cards others don't really use, which makes you think."

"I see," said Jay with an anime style sweat drop on the back of his head. "So why don't you plug in a DVD and we'll get to see these guys duel first hand."

"Good idea."

However, they heard someone knocking at the door. "Boys, the banquet starts in twenty minutes! Hurry on down to get the best seats!" a voice called from the other side of the door.

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The banquets were each held in the respective dorms. The quality of food that was served reflected the rank of the dorm. In the Slifer dorms, the quality of food was rather low. The cooks there made a ton of instant meatloaf, steamed bacon and instant ramen, all washed down with a hearty glass of coke.

The Ra dorms were quite a step up. The quality of food there was better than what most middle class families were used to having. The cooks there served baked potatoes, curried chicken and rice, and sirloin tip steaks. To go with the choice of milk or coke.

The Obelisk dorms however were way off the charts. One would think they were being treated like kings there. The food there was cooked by master chefs that been hired from all over the world. The Obelisk students had prime rib roast from some of the best-bred cows, to go with an assortment of high quality organic vegetables and fruits, and they actually had desserts. To drink, they could have access to anything a teenager would be able to drink.

And thus with the banquets being held in all six dorms, the start of the school year had officially begun. Some would wonder if they were ready for what lies ahead. Classes, duels, and anything else that involves teenage kids.

A/N: And thus concludes us another chapter. A note for some people is that there will be girls in all dorms. If you require a legitimate answer, then the one I can give is that I saw an episode where I saw girls in yellow/red blazers. If that's not good enough, then blame the feminist movement, and say they finally caught up with Seto Kaiba.

A/O/N: The reference to Team Zero, is a tribute to a great Yu-Gi-Oh author I know, by the name of Rex the Emerald Dragon who came up with the Team Zero series. Check his fics out when you get the chance.

**Card of the Episode**

VWXYZ Dragon Catapult Cannon

8/3000/2800

Attribute: Light

Type: Machine

Fusion: VW Tiger Catapult + XYZ Dragon Cannon

Effect: This card can only be Special Summoned from your Fusion Deck by removing from play the above cards on your side of the field. (You do not use "Polymerization"). Once per turn, remove from play 1 card on your opponent's side of the field. When this card attacks, you can change the battle position of the attack-target monster. (Flip Effects are not activated at this time.)

Koji: Ah, it's my chance for the Card of the Episode. And what a card to do. My VWXYZ Dragon Catapult Cannon. If you got the right cards and idea of how to get these powerful Union monsters to work with each other, this isn't as hard as it looks to play. Most of the time, you wouldn't deliberately try to get this out. But if you do get this out, this thing packs a wallop. Not only can I remove one card from the game using this beast of a machine, but I can also switch the position of a monster to whatever mode I choose and negate a flip effect. That is power.


End file.
